Chocolate Fest 2013

 

This year Brenna and I decided not to got lolita, but in twinsies since I had made two dresses out of the same material. She wore the short one, and I wore the long one.

We were trying to glare at each other but we kept dissolving into giggles.

JaCivas was giving out ganache samples out of giant chocolate cupcakes!

Sparkle chocolate!

After the festival we went out to lunch, and afterward walked down to Old Glory vintage. Awesome!

Kids Cooking Corner

 

 The dining room, once the kids have made dinner they set the table and we eat it. It's cute right?

Last summer I started volunteering for a local non-profit called The Kids Cooking Corner, I teach cooking courses once a week to kids who can be ages 3 and up, and occasionally volunteer over there for random reasons when I have the time. Like the weeks before Christmas when I found myself over there for 3 days in a row almost 24 hours preparing for a huge bake sale.

 Part of the KCC kitchen, there are 3 ovens and sometimes that's still not enough.

I've always liked volunteering, I think that's why I was originally drawn to a job at the Red Cross, (and why I stayed there way past my expiration date) there's something about helping others that for me, negates a lot of the drawbacks (like low pay, no benefits, and helicopter parents). When I got my new job I knew I needed this outlet again so I looked into a lot of volunteer options and KCC was the only place to contact me back. Too bad for those other suckers too because I am a dynamite volunteer.

This is the proprietor of the KCC Heidi, she is one tough, dedicated woman. I'm always super impressed by people with drive because I seem to have been born without any. She's always on top of things going on at the school (and is often 5 steps ahead) and is constantly rearranging and redecorating for the season, teaching classes, talking to sponsors... she's just always very busy. On top of all that she got some major health issues and 3 kids and a husband at home. She's a firm believer in the old adage that there are 24 usable hours in every day. I'm a firm believer in the much younger adage that there are 24 unstable hours in every day.

Sitting in the middle is Carly, if Heidi is the president then Carly is the Vice President. To the left is Carlys sister Melanie(?) and on the right her daughter Olivia who is AWESOME! She's very sassy and likes copying me when I say stuff in a weird accent. This day we were all putting 60+ gingerbread houses together for the winter Gingerbread Camps where kids would later decorate them.

I happened to be volunteering on the last day of the Gingerbread Camps when 2 people didn't show up to claim theirs so Heidi and I decorated them. The peppermint house is mine and the gumdrop one is Heidis. It was kind of the coolest volunteering perk ever! I think the last time I made a gingerbread house I was 19 and it was for Halloween.

Holiday French Meal

My boss is super awesome, we talk about all sort of things while we work, one of the things he's had in the planning stages for ages was a French small plates meal, we discussed that there should be, and I let him borrow my French Laundry Cookbook for inspiration and last weekend he finaly got around to doing it.

First Course

 

Mushroom, turnip, carrots, and leaks on a bed of pureed potatos and truffle oil.

Second Course

 French onion soup with crostini and Gruyère cheese.

Third Course

 Pasta with parmersan and goat cheese, snow peas, and toasted pine nuts.

Fourth Course

 Parsley puree with chik'n (vegetarian chicken), on a fried disc of pureed garlic and panko (this was my favorite dish).

Fifth Course

 Lemon sorbet palate cleanser with lime candy and lime slice. The sorbet was store bought, but the candy was homemade.

Sixth Course

 Ratatouille (really good, much better then it looks).

Seventh Course

 Vegetarian Salad Nicoise. My boss is a vegetarian just in case you hadn't guessed that yet.

Eighth Course

Cafe n' Rum Chocolate Mousse with orange liqueur whipped cream. My bosses partner made this course it was super rich I couldn't finish, but I really wanted to.

Ninth Course

Cheese Platter

Tenth Course

 Creme Brulee, my bosses partner also made this in the traditional French way which is a bit runnier then you would normally find, but it was still very good, he used raspberry sugar for the crusts.

 Digestive

 80 Proof Brandy (burned going down, and then continued to burn for a long while afterwards).

Cafe O' Lait (well not yet, I haven't added the warm cream or sugar yet).

The whole meal took about 2.5 hours and then we continued chatting until about midnight before I finally went home, it was sooo good, but I'm sure just exhausting for Ahmad and Jason who spent all day making it. I'm glad I got to be there.

Geek Slappy Madness

I heard about a geeky craft fair being put on at the Jupiter Hotel by the PDX Browncoats our local Firefly fan club. There was so much awesome geek stuff but most of it was very over priced.

Shiro Cosmetics was there! Isn't the owner adorable? I got to test out the new holiday glosses Red Ryder smelled the best, but I think Leg Lamp was the better shade. I am definitely buying from her soon!

Girl dressed like TARDIS, looks comfy.

Randall really liked the steampunk stuff, the guns, utility belts, and canes.

Afterwards we went to Slappy Cakes for lunch. I had my usual sweet potato pancakes with goat cheese and apples.

Randall had toast, hash, eggs over easy, and vegan sausage. He's on this weird doctor recommended diet for a month, it's cut out weird things like soy and citrus.

After lunch we walked down the block to Movie Madness so Randall could see what they had. They have a lot of movie memorbelia including some awesome old costumes.

 

I love the gold dress in the above photo, from a 60's version of Grimm Fairy Tales. It's super tiny though, I could never fit in it, the actress must have been 12. 

 

Eyeshadow was Aromaleighs Zues and Verdant Wisp, and Femme Fatales Space Cow.

Thanksgiving 2012

 

We never have a venue large enough to fit our whole family so above are two pictures of parts of my family and in the one of the right you can see the rest of them sitting at a table in another room. It was held at my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Dougs house which has the advantage of excellent parking.

The snack table.

Aunt Debbie made a veggi turkey, inspired!

I played with Aunt Debbies darling new dog, her name is Ruby and she's part Chihuahua part Pekingese. She's very sweet and after carrying Gawain around all the time she was light as a feather.

My Thanksgiving outfit.

Blouse: Forever 21

Dress: Handmade

Skirt: Handmade

Socks: Sock Dreams

Shoes: Bamboo Brand

Cute right? And other then the petticoat it's pretty simple and comfy.

Christmas Wish List 2012

Time for my annual wish list. This years list was really difficult, not because there's nothing I don't want but because I don't really want anything extraordinary or exciting this year. I've pretty much given up on the idea of a Lolita coat, I still want one but it's not as important to me.

Tea Time Toffee: This is seriously the best toffee ever. They were at last year's Chocolate Festival, but Brenna and I forgot to buy a bag. We're going in on a 5lb package in 2013.

 Melissa Anglomania Shoes: I'm desperate for these. I would have preferred them in red but they're almost impossible to find these days.

Cleanse Your Soul Tart Warmer Melts: Cleanse Your Soul is so freaking amazing anyway with their 1000+ scent list. I'm really fond of the tarts, especialy since for whatever reason the hallway right outside my door sucks in any smell in the house, including the really bad ones. Tart melts help.

Spoonflower Firebird Repeat: I adore ceanirmingers work, I'd love to make a dress out of this fabric. I would need about 4 yards, and an extra yard of his matching stars only fabric.

Expidit Shelving Unit from Ikea: This would make organization so much easier on me. Plus more room for sewing supplies which would be awesome because I'm hoping to stock up soon.

Cute Soft Pajama Pants: I'm a big fan of cute, loose, comfy PJs like these Eiffel Tower ones from Forever 21. Also this, these, and oh this one too. No fleece obviously because it's gross and tacky.

White Christmas Tree: I want a white tree, I would cover it in pastel lights and candy themed ornaments that I made myself and it would be so pretty. I want it to be 3.5-4ft which would be the perfect size for my room.

The Usual:

• Makeup Samples from Indy Companies
• Awesome Candies
• Socks and Tights
• Glass Topped Sewing Pins
• Loose Leaf Teas
• Lolita Accessories

Peppermint Awesome

One of my favorite things about the holidays is the easy availability of all thing candy cane. I love peppermint flavor, and red and white stripes. Here's a list of some of my favorite candy cane items.

• Pepermint Roca: I discovered these last christmas, they're amazing, dark chocolate mixed with buttery toffee, and spicy peppermint. They are so good.
• Adagio Candy Cane Tea: I bought a bunch of this last year so I could have peppermint tea whenever I wanted.
• Peppermint Ice Cream: One of the best things about this is that it's freaking pink! But it tastes delicious and creamy. The one they have at Baskin Robbins is my favorite.
• Candy Cane Cookies: My Grandma S used to make these, they're filled with this creamy gooey peppermint  stuff. Also covered in peppermint.
• Hammonds Candy Canes: I'm not a big fan of candy canes in flavors other then peppermint, but they're cute and I love the natural mint and natural butterscotch.

Grilled Cheese Grill

 

It's positively sinful that it's taken me this long to get out to one of their THREE locations around Portland, I LOVE grilled cheese, it's my go to comfort food. But with all the amazing food carts out there how good could it possible be? The answer...very.

 With the motto of "Come have a taste of your childhood, unless your childhood sucked, then we'll let you have a taste of ours" how can you go wrong? Grilled Cheese Grill has a menu consisting of traditional to off the wall combos. I met a friend there and we both got The Jalapeno Popper: roasted jalapenos, colby jack, cream cheese, and corn tortilla chips on sourdough. It was magnificently spicy.

They also have what I hear is a fantastic tomato soup (because what's grilled cheese without tomato soup), though I didn't have any myself. Next time.

The Alberta location has outdoor seating and also an old renovated schoolbus for a little bit of shelter. So if you're in the area you should probably stop by.